Refrigeration condensate handling means



Oct. 1, 1968 c. J. REBER, JR

REFRIGERATION CONDENSATE HANDLING MEANS Filed Nov. 7, 1966 Z a 4, 3 a ya ,40 44,50 W a F z a i 2 a u w G J 4 J H H k 7 H Z H a I I2 4 W 0 w a 3.T W 2 Z K m I M C v Q INVENTOR. (4/4/7011 J Ki!!! J4.

United States Patent 01 3,403,529. Patented Uct. 1, 1968 3,403,529REFRIGERATION CONDENSATE HANDLING MEANS Carroll J. Reber, Jr.,Havertown, Pa., assignor to Philco- Ford Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa.,a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 592,426 7 Claims.(Cl. 62-277) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A self-defrosting refrigeratorhaving a condenser comprising a generally planar heat exchanger foldedinto generally U-shaped form. The space between the legs of the Uaccommodates disposition of a defrost water disposal pan therebetween.Heat from the condenser sections, combined with the air stream movedthereover by a fan, aids in evaporating the defrost water.

This invention relates to refrigeration, and is especially concernedwith improvements in compressor-condenser units of the type generallymounted in the lower portion of a household refrigerator.

Recent improvements in construction of household refrigerators have madepossible increased useable storage volume without appreciable changes inoverall dimensions of cabinet structure. The overall dimensions arelimited by existing accommodations in the home, such for example assizes of doorways, alcoves, and the like. These substantial increases instorage volume have been made possible through improved insulating andstructural materials that have permitted cabinet wall thicknesses to bedecreased. However cabinet space requirements for the so-calledcondensing units have not been appreciably decreased, and stand in theway of achieving further increases in storage volume.

It is, therefore, an objective of the invention to provide refrigeratorstructure that affords improved storage space without appreciablyaffecting the overall space occupied by such structure.

It is another objective of this invention to provide a refrigeratingunit that enhances both available storage space and performance of ahousehold refrigerator.

It is a further and more specific objective of the invention to improvethe performance and reduce the cost of a self-defrosting refrigerator.

In achievement of the foregoing as well as other objectives, theinvention contemplates provision of a selfdefrosting cabinet typerefrigerator having an improved, compact, compressor and condenserarrangement which affords a proportionate increase in the food storagevolume without change in the overall dimensions of the cabinet, and inwhich arrangement the condenser comprises a generally planar heatexchanger folded into a generally U-shaped or preferably V-shaped form.The space between the legs of the V is suflicient to permit a defrostwater disposal pan to be nested therein, and the construction andarrangement is such that heat from the condenser, combined with the airstream moving thereover, evaporates the defrost water. Advantageously,the apparatus of the invention, in which the disposal pan issubstantially surrounded by warm condenser surfaces, obviates the needfor an electrical heater for the defrost water.

The manner in which the foregoing as well as other objectives andadvantages of the invention may best be achieved will be more clearlyunderstood from a consideration of the following description, taken inlight of the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational showing of a refrigerator embodying theinvention, and from which parts have been removed for convenience ofillustration;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view with parts broken away and looking in thedirection of arrows 2-2 applied to FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section taken generally along the lineindicated by arrows 3-3 applied to FIG- URE 2.

With particular reference to FIGURES 1 and 2, a refrigerator cabinet 10having outer shell 11 and an inner liner 12 spaced therefrom by suitablethermal insulation 13, comprises a below-freezing food storage chamberor compartment 14, and an above-freezing food storage chamber orcompartment 15, disposed below the former chamber. Door structure 16 forthe cabinet is provided in accordance with well known practice, as shownin FIGURE 2, but has been omitted from FIGURE 1 for convenience ofillustration. Compartments 14 and 15 are separated from one another byan insulated partition 17 which extends horizontally within cabinetliner 12.

A refrigerating unit is provided to cool the interior of the cabinet,and includes a pair of evaporators 21 and 22 arranged in seriesrefrigerant flow circuit with a compressor 23, and a condenser 24 havingspecial features characteristic of this invention and hereinafter to bemore fully described.

Refrigerator 10 is of the self defrosting type and is provided withconventional control means (not shown) operable to regulate thetemperature within the storage compartment as well as to provide forcyclic defrost of at least one of the evaporators. For example, thelower evaporator 22 may comprise a cooling plate of relatively low massthat cycles between above-freezing and below-freezing temperatures. Bysuch operation, frost accumulated upon the plate is melted and flowsfrom the plate into a trough 25 provided on the rear wall of cabinetliner 12. Defrost water then flows from trough 25 through a suitableconduit 26 into the defrost water disposal pan 27 provided in thecompressor and condenser compartment 31. It is the unique, cooperativedisposition of compressor 23, condenser 24, and defrost water disposalpan 27 to which this invention is particularly directed.

In especial accordance with the invention, and as best seen in FIGURES 2and 3, condenser 24 comprises a pair of generally planar heat exchangersections 28 and 29 fashioned into a reversely bent form. In theillustrated preferred embodiment, each of sections 28 and 29 comprises,preferably, a heat exchanger of the wire and tube type. However, it willbe appreciated from what follows that each of the condenser sections maycomprise generally planar fin and tube heat exchangers. The inventioncontemplates that sections 28 and 29 either may be separately formed andpositioned as shown, or that they may comprise a single heat exchangerbent into the illustrated V form. The bend may also be into a generallyU form. However, the V form is preferred since it projects a greaterarea of the wire-and-tube heat exchange surface into the moving airstream.

Condenser 24 is supported on the floor of compartment 31 by bracketmeans 41 and 42, and is suspended from the top of the compartment bybracket means 43. It Will of course be understood that other suitablesupport means may be resorted to for maintaining the desired angulardisposition of the condenser sections. The space between the legs of theV is essentially a slot-like opening sulficient to receive defrost waterdisposal pan 27, which pan conveniently is supported for slidingmovements on side rails 30 in order that it may be removed for cleaningas the need arises. Removal of the pan is achieved by removing grill 37,which conveniently may be held in place by spring clips, and sliding thepan along rails 30 through 3 the slot-like opening defined by theconfronting evaporator sections.

As is best seen in FIGURE 3, a central vertically extending partition 32is arranged to divide machine compartment 31 into first and secondregions, which in the present embodiment of the invention are left-handand right-hand regions, respectively. The front region of partition 32includes a V shaped opening 381 within which the V shaped condenser 24is received, and the partition region between condenser sections 28 and29 includes a wedge-shaped partition section 32a. This latter partitionsection includes a horizontally extending open ended slot that permitspassage of pan 27 through the front of compartment 31 when grill 37 isremoved.

As seen further in FIGURE 3, a propeller-type fan 34 is disposed over anopening 33 provided in a rear portion of partition 32. Fan motor 35 isdisposed in the left hand region of compartment 31, and compressor 23 islocated in the right hand region of the compartment. R- tation of fan 34by its motor is effective to induce air flow in accordance with the flowarrows applied to FIGURE 3. While a propeller-type fan has beenillustrated, it will be understood that other well known type airimpellers can be used. For example, centrifugal blowers and crossfiowblowers are well suited for this purpose.

Advantageously, heat from condenser 24 combined with moving air iseffective to evaporate the defrost water, thus obviating the need for anespecially provided heating unit for defrost water disposal. The angulardisposition of condenser sections 28 and 29 ensures air flow oversubstantially all surface portions of the condenser, such fiow beingfurther enhanced by the defrost pan, since it is cooperably disposed inrelationship to the compartment walls and partition 32 to affordwell-defined flow paths for the c iigulated air.

As will be further appreciated, and with reference to FIGURE 2, thecompressor, condenser and disposal pan arrangement of the presentinvention makes possible a machine compartment of lesser size, therebyaffording increased storage volume in food compartment 15. Particularly,the invention has made possible a reduction in space required for thecondenser and disposal pan assembly in the vertical dimension. In sodoing, advantage has been taken of the available front-to-rear spacewithout change in cabinet dimensions. Moreover, due to the additionalavailable space, it has been made possible to use a heat exchangerhaving more Widely spaced secondary heat exchange surface elements thatare less likely to become clogged with dust and the like, and that aremore readily cleaned when such accumulations are present. As best seenin FIGURE 2, this reduction in the vertical dimension has made itpossible to lower the overlying portion of the insulated cabinet bottomwall, increasing the space available for the crisper drawer 36 as wellas accommodating a longer door on which additional storage shelves maybe placed. Also as is seen in FIGURE 2, the rear of cabinet is devoid ofrefrigerating unit components, and in further view of the fact thatcooling air flows into and out of compartment 31 through the front grill37 only, the rear wall of the cabinet can be placed substantially flushwith the wall of a room. Moreover, the top and sides of the cabinet canbe enclosed in view of the pattern of air circulation afforded by theinvention.

I claim:

1. A refrigerant condensing unit for use in combination with arefrigerator having an insulated food storage compartment, a machinecompartment, and defrostable cooling means for said food storagecompartment, said condensing unit being adapted for disposition in suchmachine compartment, and comprising: a compressor; a condenser connectedto said compressor and including a pair of generally planar heatexchanger sections adapted to extend across such compartment and beingdisposed in confronting spaced relation; and pan means for receivingdefrost water from such cooling means, disposed between and spaced fromconfronting surface portions of the heat exchanger sections.

2. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structuredefining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartmentadjacent thereto, refrigerating unit means for said cabinet structure,comprising: an evaporator for cooling said storage compartment; and acondenser and compressor in said machine compartment, said condenserbeing reversely shaped to comprise a pair of generally planar heatexchanger sections extending across said compartment in confrontingspaced relation and having adjacent edge portions disposed in contiguousrelation, each said heat exchanger section comprising a planar array oftubing over which extends a plurality of spaced elongate wires thatserve as secondary heat exchange surfaces; and means connecting saidevaporator, compressor, and condenser in series refrigerant flowcircuit.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, and further characterized in thatsaid evaporator is of the automatically defrostable type, and by theinclusion of defrost water disposal means comprising a pan for receivingdefrost water, said pan extending substantially the width of saidmachine compartment and disposed between and spaced from the confrontingheat exchanger sections.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 and characterized in that partitionmeans is cooperably disposed with said machine compartment to form afirst and second region, said partition means including an opening, andsaid compressor being disposed in said second region, said apparatusfurther including an air impeller for directing air through saidopening, said impeller being operable to draw air into said compartmentthrough said first region for flow over portions of said heat exchangersections and said pan, and to direct air through the opening in saidpartition for discharge through said second region for flow over saidcompressor and the remaining portions of said heat exchanger sectionsand the pan.

5. A refrigerant condensing unit for use in combination with arefrigerator having an insulated food storage compartment, a machinecompartment, and defrostable cooling means for said food storagecompartment, said condensing unit being adapted for disposition in suchmachine compartment, andcomprising: a compressor; a condenser connectedto said compressor and including a pair of generally planar heatexchanger sections adapted to extend across such compartment and beingdisposed in confronting spaced relation, each said heat exchangersection comprising a generally planar array of tubing over which extendsa plurality of spaced elongate wires that serve as secondary heatexchange surfaces; and pan means for receiving defrost water from suchdefrostable cooling means, and disposed between confronting surfaceportions of the heat exchanger sections.

6. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structuredefining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartmentadjacent thereto having a front opening, refrigerating unit means forsaid cabinet structure comprising: an evaporator for cooling saidstorage compartment; a condenser and compressor in said machinecompartment, said condenser being reversely shaped to comprise a pair ofgenerally planar heat exchanger sections extending across saidcompartment in confronting spaced relation and having adjacent edgeportions disposed in contiguous relation, said heat exchanger sectionsdefining a slot-like opening in substantial alignment with and readilyaccessible from the front opening of said machine compartment; agenerally planar moisture disposal container positioned between saidheat exchanger sections and movable into and out of said machinecompartment through its opening and said slot-like opening; and meansconnecting said evaporator, compressor, and condenser in seriesrefrigerant flow circuit.

7. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structuredefining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartmentadjacent thereto, refrigerating unit means for said cabinet structure,comprising: an evaporator of the automatically defrostable type forcooling said storage compartment; a condenser and compressor in saidmachine compartment, said condenser being reversely shaped to comprise apair of generally planar heat exchanger sections extending across saidcompartment in confronting spaced relation and having adjacent edgeportions disposed in contiguous relation, each said heat exchangersection comprising a planar array of tubing over which extends aplurality of spaced, elongated wires that serve as secondary heatexchange surfaces; defrost water disposal means comprising a pan forreceiving defrost water from said defrostable evaporator,

said pan extending substantially the width of said machine compartmentand disposed between the confronting heat exchanger section; and meansconnecting said evaporator, compressor, and condenser in seriesrefrigerant flow circuit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,144 5/ 1954 Grimshaw 62-2792,721,451 10/ 1955 Schumacher 62279 2,859,595 11/ 1958 Murphy 62-2793,050,957 8/1962 Robbie 62277 3,111,818 11/1963 Dolan 62-279 WILLIAM J.WYE, Primary Examiner.

